Striking plate for hammers



April 7, 1953 w. F. sTAszAK EI'AL. 2,633,766

STRIKING PLATE FOR HAMMERS Filed June 15, 1951 Patented Apr. 7, 1953 OFFICE 7 s'rRIKING PLATE FOR nAMMEas Walter F. Staszak, Argo, and Paul E. Shaw,

. Brookfield, Ill.

Application Jimeis, 1951, Serial No. 231,704

3 Claims.

This invention relates to hammers employed for body work on automobiles and the like, and more particularly to the construction of the hammer head with a view to improving the efiiciency of its operation. The conventional hammer for body work has a solid steel head, and often the striking of the sheet metal from which the body is made is so forceful that it tends to expand the same or impose dents where the surface was only intended to be made flat. It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a novel striking plate for hammers of the type referred to which cushions the blow of the hammer with a view to eliminating the undesirable effects mentioned.

A further object is to provide a striking plate which has a flat bottom section designed to spread the area in which the hammer blow is inflicted, avoiding the formation of dents or uneven spots in the surface of the sheet metal.

Another object is to provide a striking plate which is of a nature to be readily and simply secured to the head of the hammer.

An additional object is to build up the hammer head with a base of plastic or semi-hard material having the inherent quality of softening the blow of the hammer.

An important object is to design the novel improvement in a manner to be economically produced.

With the above objects in view, and any others which may suggest themselves from the description to follow, a better understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the accompanying drawing, in Which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of an automobile body, showing the application of the improved hammer.

Figure 2 is a full-sized view of the head portion of the hammer, showing a side elevation of the striking plate and a fragment of the work designed to be flattened by the same.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the improved hammer head, as seen from the left-hand side of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmental section taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the striking plate.

In accordance with the foregoing, specific reference to the drawing indicates the handle of the hammer at Ill and its head at I I.

The bottom of the head I I is recessed as indicated at I5, and the side wall of the recess tapped hammer head, such base being of plastic or other semi-hard material; and the base 26 is designed to be retained to the hammer head by the lateral application of a set screw 2| to the same, as clearly shown in Figure 4.

The novel striking plate is shown most clearly in Figure 5, and is made of spring steel. It is of U-form, having a top arm 25 and a bottom section 26. The arm 25 is widened at its free end as indicated at 28 and made in part-circular form; and the end portion of the arm is made with a circular opening 30, the latter being struck along its rim with a series of upwardly inclined spurs 3|. The bottom section 26 of the striking plate is formed with an upwardly bent rim 33 along the side and free end.

The striking plate is designed for application to the hammer head I I and for retention thereto by the base 20. For this purpose, the base is slid into the space between the arm 25 and bottom section 26 of the striking plate until the screw stem I8 of the base arrives in line with the opening 30-. The latter is of a diameter to permit the upward passage of the screw stem I8 as indicated in Figure 4, facilitating the threadin of the stem into the hammer head cavity I5 in a manner to clamp the striking plate to the same as shown. The spurs 3| of the striking plate arm 25 contract in the manner of a spring washer, enablin the base 20 to secure a tight grip on the said arm when the screw stem I8 has been fully advanced; and the tightening of the set screw 2| completes the process of securing the base 20 to the hammer head.

With the striking plate applied as just described, its bottom section 26 becomes positioned in spaced relation to the extent illustrated in the drawing. Thus, the section 28 is the one applied directly to the work, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

When the hammer is being used to flatten out projections or straighten surfaces of body sheet metal, the application of the striking plate as mentioned spreads the effect of the hammer blow, in order to avoid the denting or deflecting of the sheet metal from the force of the blow. Further, the springy nature of the striking plate imparts a vibrational factor to the blow of the hammer which divides the impact of the hammer into a series of minor and gentler blows effective to flatten high spots in the sheet metal uniformly and smoothly. Further, the base 20 is of a material which is not as hard as metal and can therefore absorb the shock of the hammer blows to some extent, softening the same.

Finally, it will be apparent that the improve- 3 ment consists of only two major parts, that is, the head base 20 and striking plate 26, such parts being of simple construction, whereby to make it possible to produce the improvement at moderate cost.

While we have described the invention along specific lines, various minor changes or refinements may be made therein without departing from its principle, and we reserve the right to employ all such changes and refinements as may come Within the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A hammer having a head, a base applicable to the striking end of the latter, a substantially U-shaped striking plate applied with one arm between the base and said striking end and having the other arm spaced from the outer end of the base, said striking end having a tapped recess and the first-named arm an opening in registration with the recess, and the base having a screw stem passing through the opening to '4 thread into the recess and procure the clamping of said first-named arm between the base and said striking end.

2. The structure of claim 1, the rim of said opening having a series of inclined spurs effective as a spring washer between the base and said striking end.

3. The structure of claim 1, said base being of a semi-hard material to soften the blow of the hammer.

WALTER F. STASZAK. PAUL E. SHAW.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 974,021 Blake Oct. 25, 1910 1,210,539 Rudd Jan. 2, 1917 1,869,755 Ketcham Aug. 2, 1932 

